Junpei Zaki quit student life for a fulltime TikTok creator role

A 25-year-old Byron Bay man has become NSW’s most influential social media star after a stunning rise from obscurity to working full time for his 13m followers.

A world-first list of Australia’s 100 most truly influential social media stars has been revealed, and Junpei Zaki is New South Wales’ number one.

The Influence Index, published exclusively by theoz.com.au today, reveals those who are shaping the purchase decisions, conversations and opinions of the next generation at an unprecedented scale and pace. It goes beyond follower counts, using behavioural science to quantify and rank content creators according to their overall impact.

Zaki admits he probably spends far too much time on social media. But he believes going to work in a job he hated would be a far more unhealthy way to spend his time.

Junpei Zaki is the highest-ranked creator from NSW on The Oz Top 100 Influence list.

Last year, Zaki gave up his university computer studies to become a full-time online content creator to keep up with the demand for his posts.

“I must say, it wasn’t a difficult decision to make,” he said. “I don’t really have a long-term strategy to talk about. The only goal I have is to continue to keep my supporters front and centre in everything I do.”

Now, having amassed more than 13 million followers, the Byron Bay content creator makes a living from his animated music videos. But true social success is about more than just follower count.

Adding in factors like fan engagement levels, trustworthiness and relatability, Zaki is the state’s No1 and national No 9 on a game-changing chart that for the first time reveals which of Australia’s thousands of “influencers” really make a difference – leaving some well-known names floundering behind newer, younger stars of social.

Junpei Zaki quit a computer studies to be a full-time content creator.

Sitting on top of the list overall is Queenslander Sarah Magusara, a 20-year-old mum known for her dance and fitness videos.

Editor of theoz.com.au, Elyse Popplewell, applauded Zaki’s placing and highlighted how it worked with the science behind the index.

“Junpei’s TikTok productions are high quality and unique,” she said. “It’s obvious how much he cares about creating special content and that’s why his ‘relatability’ and ‘content prominence’ scores are so high. Junpei engages in the comments more than most other influencers which goes a long way in fostering his community.”

Zaki hailed the initiative. “I think it is very cool that influencers are now becoming a part of something as big as this,” he said of the index.

However for the 25-year-old, the most important form of recognition comes from his ever-growing pool of fans.

“I’m sure each person has a slightly different reason for following me, but I think the main reason my followers choose to follow me is because I interact with them,” he said.

“I actually replied to all of the comments on my videos until I reached about 100,000 followers, and it became physically impossible to keep up.”

ozcom.au Editor, Elyse Popplewell

While some older generations struggle to wrap their heads around what it is an influencer does, Zaki said it was his grandfather who first urged him to become a YouTuber.

“I think most young people have gone through a phase of wanting to be a YouTuber, Instagramer, and now TikToker, but most people either give up or stop after a while,” he says.

“Perhaps I’m crazy, but for me, receiving three comments on a video was HUGE! and it made me want to make more content for those three people who enjoyed my content enough to leave a comment.

“Eventually, that three became 300, and then 3000 and is now about 13 million, but the core hasn’t changed. For me, the flame that kept me going was my followers, and they are still very much at the centre of everything I do.”

See the full Top 100 Influence Index today at TheOz.com.au

Originally published as Junpei Zaki quit student life for a fulltime TikTok creator role